In March 2018, the Old Red Brick Company was awarded the contract for the demolition works of the former Caroma site in Magill. Our scope involved demolishing substantial interconnected warehouse structures with a total building footprint of over 13,000m2.
Our preliminary works consisted of establishing the site prior to decontaminating the structure of all asbestos contaminating materials (ACM).
We were then required to manually separate a portion of the shed structure that was to be retained from the larger portion of the building which was scheduled for demolition. We then commenced mechanical demolition of the structure according to a detailed demolition plan.
At the height of the project we employed up to four excavators of various sizes to safely and efficiently demolish the superstructure. The main challenges of the project were in relation to the existing services and the interfacing between neighbouring properties and public roads. The timing of the works required us to perform demolition works around three live transformers in various locations around the structure.
To avoid damaging this critical infrastructure during demolition operations required close co-ordination with the service provider and a carefully planned and executed methodology.
The safe demolition of the boundary walls was also an area which required close planning and management. To safely demolish the front façade of the building that spanned over 130 metres along Magill Road, we were required to temporarily relocate the existing bus station before utilising traffic management to close the footpath and a lane of traffic. We managed this process so we were able to demolish the entire frontage in less than one day, preventing prolonged pedestrian and vehicle disturbance along Magill Road.
The boundary wall adjacent to the Alma Hotel carpark was also an area which required a detailed level of planning and co-ordination. The boundary wall along this section of the building overshadowed the adjacent carpark by a considerable margin. To safely demolish this element of the building, we reduced the overall height of the wall by hand using scissor lifts operating from the carpark to prevent the risk of debris entering the carpark. In communication and consultation with the hotel, we then created an exclusion zone prior to demolishing the remainder of the wall by plant.